Langmack faces sack at New Souths

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South Sydney's board is expected to sack coach Paul Langmack today - but club patriarch George Piggins would rather he stayed on under a dramatic restructure next year.

The Rabbitohs have not won since April 3 and a number of sources have told the Herald there will be sweeping changes over the next six months, transforming the foundation club into the "New Souths".

The first of these will be the removal of Langmack, with premier league boss Arthur Katinas to act as caretaker for the rest of the year. While that decision is likely to be taken today, the announcement could come any time between this morning and next Monday.

"When we sacked [Craig] Coleman, my opinion then was that changing the coach wasn't going to change a thing," Piggins said last night. "The board wanted to go ahead and sack him. The point was - it didn't change a thing."

But when asked if Langmack's role at Souths might change, Piggins answered: "I think that could happen."

The embattled Rabbitohs' lot got worse last night when skipper Bryan Fletcher was ruled out for 10 weeks with a knee injury.

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But a push by powerful factions to install former Australia coach Chris Anderson as head coach next year has received a fatal blow, it is understood, with the post up for grabs again.

Officials don't want the coach to be the figurehead of a new Souths - something they believe Anderson would insist upon. Candidates with and without top-grade coaching experience, both in Australia and Britain, now will be considered.

Piggins, the former captain, coach and chairman of the Rabbitohs who signed Langmack, is now chairman of the leagues club.

Last night he backed Langmack to serve the remaining season-and-a-half of his contract, although he admitted proposals for a new management set-up meant the former international back-rower may not remain head coach.

"I've got confidence in the coach," Piggins said. "You can't keep chopping and changing, the side's competitive. When I signed him, I signed him for three years and I think he still needs three years to see if he can bring it together. I don't think, coming from where we're coming from, you get there in the space of two years. We need some stability. We are being competitive for 60 minutes, it's just we don't have the size."

The roles of other staff at the club, including chief executive David Tapp and Langmack's coaching and conditioning offsiders, are also likely to come under scrutiny today.

"We possibly could improve ourselves by taking on another structure . . . if we had the money, we go for the newer structure and Paul would be a part of it," Piggins said. "We've got to probably buy a bit smarter and wiser and to do that we've got to put a structure in where it's going to take us time to do it. We've got to find a way to bring them on slow and stop them getting 'em off us. If they ask my opinion, I'll give it."

There has been speculation that Souths would need to dismiss Langmack for misconduct or give him a massive payout if he was to leave the club completely.

But Piggins said: "He's only got a year of his contract to go . . . I think they would only need to sit down with Paul to work something out, whether they want to go with a different structure or whether they want to go with a payout figure. It's something that would have to negotiated between Paul and the board."

Another coach under pressure, Parramatta's Brian Smith, said last night in an interview on Sydney radio station 2UE that he doubted the sincerity of a letter criticising him written to the club by errant centre Jamie Lyon.

And away from the coaches-under-pressure theme, the NRL yesterday announced a crackdown on defenders putting tacked players in headlocks.

"In reviewing a number of tackles over the weekend, the [video review] committee had to concede it appears the practice was occurring across a range of different games," said NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley.

"There has been a growing concern about tackles where players are being grabbed around the head or neck. Rather than be accused of launching a 'crackdown' without warning, the NRL is advising all clubs how the area is going to be enforced."